Great stone graves near Gimritz

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The megalithic graves near Gimritz were three Neolithic megalithic tombs in Gimritz , a district of the Wettin-Löbejün community in the Saale district , Saxony-Anhalt . The facilities were destroyed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

location

The exact location of the graves is not known, which has led to some confusion about their geographical allocation. In reports from the 18th and 19th centuries, they were listed under different locations. Ulrich Fischer therefore assumed that there was one grave each in Gimritz, Brachwitz and Wettin . Because of the similarity of the descriptions of graves 2 and 3, which allegedly were in Brachwitz and Wettin, Waldtraut Schrickel suspected that this was only a grave that was located in the Gimritzer area. By carefully comparing the historical descriptions with maps, Hans-Jürgen Beier finally came to the conclusion that all three graves must have been in the area of ​​the lark near Gimritz.

description

According to Johann Christoph von Dreyhaupt , the three graves were quite similar to one another and had elongated mounds. One was oriented east-west and is said to have had a length of 300 cubits (approx. 180 m), but this is viewed by Hans-Jürgen Beier as an exaggeration or misprint. Two of the graves were cleared in 1733, the third survived until the beginning of the 19th century. This was examined by Zwanziger around 1820, who was able to determine a stone enclosure, a mound and a burial chamber located in it . The chamber was rectangular and made of stone slabs. It was divided in the middle by a transverse plate and covered with only one plate. One of the end plates on the narrow sides had a soul hole . The floor of the chamber was covered with a layer of sand . The grave should be addressed as an ancient dolmen .

The only burial object found was an amphora from the Neolithic Baalberg culture . However, since some architectural elements such as the soul hole or the subdivision of the chamber are more typical of more recent times, it is also conceivable that the grave was built by the late Neolithic Walternienburg or Bernburg culture and that the Baalberg vessel was handed down for a long time Subject acted. The whereabouts of the amphora is unknown.

literature

  • Hans-Jürgen Beier : The grave and burial customs of the Walternienburg and Bernburg culture. Scientific contributions 1984/30 (L19) of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, ISSN  0440-1298 , p. 132.
  • Hans-Jürgen Beier: The megalithic, submegalithic and pseudomegalithic buildings and the menhirs between the Baltic Sea and the Thuringian Forest (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Volume 1). Wilkau-Haßlau 1991, p. 69.
  • Johann Christoph von Dreyhaupt : Pagus Neletici et Nudzici or detailed diplomatic-historical description of the Saalkreyses, which belonged to the former primacy and archbishopric, but now secularized by the Westphalian peace treaty, Duchy of Magdeburg. Volume 2, 1755, p. 651 ( online ).
  • Ulrich Fischer : The Stone Age graves in the Saale region. Studies on Neolithic and Early Bronze Age grave and burial forms in Saxony-Thuringia (= prehistoric research. Volume 15). De Gruyter, Berlin 1956, pp. 49, 88, 263, 274.
  • Ulrich Fischer: To the Neolithic collective graves in Hesse and Thuringia. In: Nassau Annals. Volume 79, 1968, p. 15, note 52.
  • Alfred Götze , Paul Höfer , Paul Zschiesche: The prehistoric and early historical antiquities of Thuringia. Kabitzsch, Würzburg 1909, p. 11 ( online ).
  • Christian Keferstein : Views on Celtic antiquities, the Celts in general and especially in Germany. Volume I, Halle 1846, p. 11 ( online ).
  • Joachim Preuss : The Baalberger Group in Central Germany. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1966, pp. 161–162.
  • Waldtraut Schrickel : Catalog of the Central German graves with Western European elements of the gallery graves of Western Germany (= contributions to the prehistoric and early historical archeology of the Mediterranean cultural area. Volume 5). Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 1966, pp. 422-423.
  • Twenties: News about some of the association at the general assembly v. Antiquities found at Wettin on October 18, 1826. In: Friedrich Karl Hermann Kruse (Hrsg.): German antiquities. Volume 2/3, 1827, pp. 128-129.